Policy and Partnerships

Inclusion of Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in Healthy People 2020

“Dementias including Alzheimer’s disease” has been proposed as a new topic area for Healthy People 2020. Healthy People provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for promoting health and preventing disease. Since 1979, Healthy People has set and monitored national health objectives to meet a broad range of health needs, encourage collaborations across sectors, guide individuals toward making informed health decisions, and measure the impact of our nation’s prevention activity. In fall 2010, the Healthy People 2020 objectives will be released along with guidance for achieving the new 10-year targets.

Conducting Community Education Programs

Through a cooperative agreement to partner and implement public health strategies related to Alzheimer’s disease, the Healthy Aging Program supported the Alzheimer’s Association to develop and implement a multifaceted, community-based demonstration project to educate African American baby boomers on the current state of science related to brain-healthy lifestyles. The community intervention is designed to effect knowledge and attitudes among African American baby boomers related to physical activity and vascular risk factors, and will be overlaid with information about other general health behaviors such as diet, social activity and mental activity. During the first phase of the project, the Alzheimer’s Association led a comprehensive intervention planning and development effort that included formative research to assess current needs and obstacles, eliciting community input and participation, and created a multi-level, community intervention with robust evaluation to measure the effect of the program. In 2009, the Alzheimer’s Association piloted and evaluated the project in two communities – Atlanta, GA and Los Angeles, CA.